The Division 2 presented the future of the tactical loot shooter at its Ubisoft Forward. One change involves your long-standing agent, as this character is set to become obsolete soon. Ubisoft wants to focus on seasonal characters. Diablo shows how this works.
What has Ubisoft announced? At Ubisoft Forward, the developers of The Division 2 seized the opportunity to talk about the future of the tactical loot shooter. Year 6 is coming up soon, and for this reason, Ubisoft wants to implement new features.
Besides the more accessible endgame (via x.com), there will be a significant change regarding your agent. If you want to play a new season, you will now have to create a new agent starting in Year 6. If you think this system is familiar, you are correct.
Hack & Slashes like Diablo and PoE are known for their seasonal characters and the grind that comes with them. For loot shooters like Destiny or The Division, this is rather unusual. Many long-time players were able to react to the upcoming changes, and their opinions are mostly negative.
“Seems to be a very strange move”
What does the community say about the upcoming change? The community is divided; many long-time fans are dissatisfied with Ubisoft’s decision. The Division 2 is a grindy loot shooter where players have been fine-tuning their perfect builds for years – with seasonal characters, these polished agents would all become unnecessary. The following voices can be heard:
- “I play PoE every season, yet it’s shit for THIS game.” – BlurredVision18
- “I agree. I love both D4, where I play seasonally, and Division 2, but there is a huge difference between games designed for seasonal characters from the start.[…]” – Scaniarix
- “[…] No one wants to create a new character and start from scratch. They already hate doing WONY runs that take three hours. Why do you think they will suddenly warm up to this on a three-month basis? […]” – RAVENORSE
- “This seems to be a very strange step, to be honest. If it goes poorly, they will lose many veterans, and ultimately many people will not buy TD3 if that is supposed to be the new direction.” – ThaVolt
Ubisoft already tried to explain the new system on x.com and calm the fans, but they are not satisfied. It is especially the veterans who have ground with their agents for thousands of hours, only to now have to create a new one in Year 6 that they don’t have a sentimental connection with.
Can the system work? The seasonal model, where players have to start anew each season, can work, but it is questionable whether this will be the case for The Division. Loot shooters are usually associated with a lot of grinding – especially regarding leveling your protagonist.
Ubisoft would have to radically change how quickly you can level up your agent and how often materials and powerful equipment drop. Diablo 4 shows how it can be done with its new season and demonstrates that the grind to the maximum level can be completed in less than 3-4 hours – while in TD2, players report taking 6 hours to go from level 30 to 40.
It will show what Ubisoft was thinking, but until then, what do you think of the change? Do you believe that players will love it or boycott it? Let us know your opinion in the comments! Destiny, Division, and Anthem were once the future of gaming: What happened?
